Monthly Maintenance Checklist for Your Commercial Garage Door
Commercial garage doors are quite an investment for a business owner. The impact of a broken commercial garage door is much more than a pesky inconvenience, it can and will cost the business money both in repairs and in time (and opportunities) wasted while the doors were not in proper working condition. To avoid all this, there are a few monthly maintenance checks you can have done.
Lubrication
This is a common maintenance practice for anything with moving parts, and it is quite simple to do if you follow the manufacturer's manual. It should have clear instructions on how, when and where to apply lubrication.
Simple visual and audio inspection
Take a close look at the mechanisms of your garage door for any signs of wearing or damage. Look at the rollers, springs, cables and other parts of the door to make sure they look good. If you are not sure what they should look like, use your door manual as a point of reference.
As the door closes and open, listen to the sound being made by the movement. Garage doors nowadays are designed to move quietly, so if there is any screeching noise, you may need to clean out and lubricate the moving parts, particularly the rollers and tracks.
Test the reverse mechanism
This is a critical mechanism that allows the door to re-open if there is something or someone passing underneath. That way, there won't be any incident of people or goods getting crushed underneath these heavy commercial doors.
You can test your reverse mechanism by placing an object directly underneath the door, and then closing it. The door should reverse once it touches the object, so if it doesn't, call the garage door repair people immediately. You can also grab the bottom of the door while it is closing and try to push it upwards. It should reverse. If it doesn't, you may have a problem.
Most doors nowadays come with photo sensors that operate the reversal mechanism. Make sure these are cleaned and in proper working condition by waving an object between the two sensors, which should make the door reverse.
Check the balance
An unbalanced door uses a lot more force to move up and down and will wear out faster. You can check on this by disconnecting the electric opener, manually moving the door upwards and releasing it. If it does not stay in place, then you may have an issue with your springs, which only a professional should handle.